Solidarity: A new movement for socialism in Scotland

[Editor]

http://www.solidarityscotland.org/

[Red Dawn]

Thanks for this thread ED

SOLIDARITY...

"Founding Statement"

"This meeting believes we share a historic responsibility to provide people in Scotland with a socialist alternative to the pro-market agendas of New Labour, Tories, Liberal Democrats and the SNP. Many working class voters are so disillusioned with politicians that they do not vote at all"

"The war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues its deadly course and Lebanon lies in ruins; this is the latest stage in a regional conflict at the root of which lies the same free-market agenda that has devastated working class communities the length and breadth of Scotland. Immigrant communities are under attack, Islamaphobia is on the rise and our civil liberties continue to be undermined"...

Read on...

http://tinyurl.com/2aarcx

http://www.solidarityscotland.org/content/view/1/3/


Join us...

http://www.solidarityscotland.org/content/view/5/7/

[Red Dawn]

"Free Georgina Smith and Helen John"

"Solidarity, Scotland's Socialist Movement condemn the prison sentence given to peace campaigners Georgina Smith and Helen John. The pair were jailed for refusing to pay a fine or carry out community service after admitting to being resposible for anti-cluster bomb graffitti at Edinburgh's High Court on rememberance Sunday"

"Solidarity Co-Convenor, Tommy Sheridan has campaigned with both women over a number of years and called for them to be released"

"Georgina and Helen are committed campaigners against illegal activity by our Governments in our name. It is a disgrace that it is they who are in jail while Tony Blair is walking free. I was arrested with Helen John in 2001 and have huge respect for her work, she should be respected for her fight against the illegal use of weapons rather than criminalised for it."

"Georgina was sentenced to 45 days and Helen 40 days, their sentences will be served at Cornton Vale"


"We Are Solidarity - We Believe in Taking Sides"...

http://tinyurl.com/37rr9q


"Tony Blair joins investment bank"

"It is not known how much JPMorgan will pay him, but some estimates say more than $1m (£500,000) a year. The bank said he had a "unique perspective"...

http://tinyurl.com/3c7qjw

I think you will find it will be a lot more then..."$1m (£500,000) a year"



"THE controversy over the Blair family trust’s “Cheriegate” property deals has returned to haunt the prime minister as he is about to leave office"

"Complex links involving the trust, a French arms firm, bribery scandals, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) raise new embarrassment for Tony Blair over a potential conflict of interest"

"At the centre of the controversy is Thales, a supplier of military aviation electronics, which was revealed three years ago to have rented two flats owned by the Blair trust. Thales reportedly paid £60,000 a year for the Bristol properties for two years"

"Late last year Thales was one of several defence companies that successfully lobbied ministers to stop the SFO inquiry into the alleged bribery of Saudi Arabian officials in the multi-billion-pound al-Yamamah arms deal"...

http://tinyurl.com/2tk7xg

[Red Dawn]

"Close Guantanamo - Take Action Today"

"Fri 11 Jan - International Day of Action"

"Today is the sixth anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo. In the US, the Anerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling on everyone to wear orange today. There will be demonstrations in many US cities and in other cities around the world. Moazzam Begg will this afternoon lead a delegation of former prisoners to deliver a letter to Gordon Brown calling on him to press for the release of british residents still held there and to press for Guantanamo Bay to be closed"...

http://www.solidarityscotland.org/

[Red Dawn]

"Corporatism in Scotland"...."Smoke and Mirrors"...

http://tinyurl.com/3e5qy2

[Red Dawn]

Gaza in Darkness - Join the Protest!
Join the protest:
Wednesday 23 January 2008, 5.30pm at the foot of the Mound, Princes Street, Edinburgh

The only power plant in Gaza was shut down yesterday - the inhabitants of Gaza, 1.5 million people, now have no electricity, water or functional medical facilities.

Solidarity condemns the latest act of war from Israel that followed George W Bush's 'peace' visit to the region. We urge all Solidarity members and supporters to join the protest or offer support to the Palestinian people through the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). Tommy Sheridan said:

"Solidarity support the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination and human rights. We call on the British and Scottish Governments to condemn Israel's attempt to starve the people of Gaza into submission."

SPSC are calling on all human rights groups and campaigns to join the protest and to end the silence on Israel's genocidal actions against the people of Gaza. Please contact SPSC at campaign@scottishpsc.org.uk This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it to confirm your support.

http://www.solidarityscotland.org/

[Red Dawn]

Defend Tommy Sheridan
End Murdoch’s witch-hunt
No more public money for the billionaire’s vendetta
A public inquiry into the actions of the police, the legal establishment and the Murdoch empire.


On Sunday 16th December Tommy Sheridan was charged by Lothian and Borders police with perjury, arising from the most expensive perjury investigation ever in Scotland. This investigation, instigated by the Scottish Crown Office, was ordered following Tommy Sheridan’s defamation victory over Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World in July 2006. The same Crown Office will now decide whether a criminal trial takes place.

Tommy Sheridan was arrested and held for 8 hours for questioning in Edinburgh on Sunday. At the same time nine police officers descended on Tommy and Gail Sheridan’s house in Glasgow and detained Gail for 8 hours, who was alone with her two year old daughter, while the police searched the house. The press of course were tipped –off about this stage-managed raid. An action that has earned the police condemnation from many quarters for their intimidation and heavy-handed methods. As Tommy Sheridan commented: “ I am being treated as if I am a murderer"

The unprecedented usurping of police resources to carry out this campaign have exposed the lengths that the Murdoch media empire, sections of the legal establishment in Scotland and the police are prepared to go to try and target Tommy Sheridan.

A colossal £500,000 of public money has been spent so far on the police enquiry by a force that had last year the worst rate for successful prosecutions of alleged rape of any police force in Scotland. Thousands of hours of police time have been diverted to this case, and for what purpose?

Moreover, it is unprecedented in Scottish legal history for a civil defamation case to be followed by a criminal investigation into possible perjury having being committed. As the BBC Scotland solicitor Alistair Bonnington underlined again on Newsnight Scotland on Monday 17th December: “lies are told every day and in every case in courts across Scotland. What happens about that? Absolutely nothing. Just because this case involved a politician and a newspaper is not a reasonable basis at all to proceed with a perjury investigation. For Scotland this sets a precedent.”

Tommy Sheridan has been the foremost figure in the Scottish socialist movement for nearly two decades. He was the leader of the anti-poll tax movement that defeated the Tory government in the early 1990’s and in the process ended the career of Margaret Thatcher. He served a four-month jail sentence during that campaign and was elected from his prison cell to Glasgow City Council in 1992. Tommy was elected as a socialist living on the average wage of a worker to the Scottish parliament in 1999. His uncompromising stand against racism, poverty, injustice and as a fighter for ordinary working people earned the hatred of the right-wing press and the big business establishment.

It was this that made him the target of the Murdoch media-empire whose stable of papers include the Sun and the News of the World. Papers who have a long record of attacking workers, trade unionists, asylum seekers and socialists. Murdoch’s vendetta against Tommy Sheridan is part of a campaign to destroy any opposition to the billionaires and the system that the Murdoch’s of this world seek to defend at all costs. This vendetta has increased in intensity and desperation following the defamation victory that Tommy Sheridan scored against Murdoch's paper the News of the World in 2006. The now possibility of a perjury trial is a continuation of this witch-hunt by the Murdoch empire.

This website has been set-up to build support not only for Tommy Sheridan – but for the right not to be silenced and to be able to speak out against war, injustice, inequality and poverty wherever it exists.

We appeal to you to add your name to those speaking out in defence of Tommy Sheridan; be one of many who are willing to stand up against the Murdoch vendetta. To demand an end to the shocking waste of public resources being used to prosecute this witch-hunt. For the right not to be silenced by the rich and powerful.

Click here to Send Tommy and the Campaign a message of support...

http://tinyurl.com/2xfcly


Send email, letters, fax and phone to Lothian and Borders Police
We are asking all supporters to bombard Lothian and Borders Chief Constable David Strang with complaints regarding the decision to deploy nine police officers to Tommy and Gail Sheridan’s home on Sunday 16th December. Moreover, to detain Gail Sheridan for 8 hours while carrying out a search of their home was heavy-handed in the extreme and a scandalous waste of resources. Is it the operational policy of Lothian and Borders police to use nine officers to detain a women and two-year old child while searching a house in all criminal investigations, for example murder?

We should also make clear our disgust at the use of hundreds of thousands of pounds of public resources and thousands of hours of police officers time to conduct this enquiry at a time when Lothian and Borders police force have a shocking conviction rate last year of only 1.4% for rape cases in their region.

Lothian and Borders Police
Force Headquarters, Fettes Avenue
EDINBURGH, EH4 1RB.
(e) enquiries @ lbp.pnn.police.uk
Tel. No. 0131 311-3131 Fax. No. 0131 440 6889


Letters, emails, and faxes of protest to the Scottish Crown Office.


Model email/letter of protestI /We wish to protest in the strongest possible terms about the decisions taken to launch a police investigation into the Tommy Sheridan defamation case. Already, after more than a year a colossal amount of public money, estimated to be in excess of £5000,000 has been squandered, into the proceedings of a civil case - which is unprecedented in Scottish legal history.

The decisions to proceed with a perjury investigation I/we regard as being a politically driven decision – which in no way serves the interests of justice. But does give succour and encouragement to the Murdoch media empire who have made it clear all along by their actions that they were out to get Tommy Sheridan. For the Crown Office to used in this way as part of Murdoch’s vendetta is shocking in the extreme.

Your website declares that your core values include: “independence - our decisions will be impartial, fair and timely and taken on an independent, objective and professional assessment of the evidence available and in the public interest;”

In what way has the Crown Office actions been “independent” in this case. Is it in the “public interest” to effectively write a black cheque for a police inquiry which has consumed a phenomenal amount of public resources? What is the “objective and professional assessment” for this investigation when there are almost never such investigations into criminal trials – including for murder and other serious offences where there is contradictory evidence given during the trial.?

We demand an end to this politically motivated witch-hunt and a halt to any possible perjury trial in this case. The so-called “independent “ Scottish Crown Office should not be being used as part of Murdoch’s vendetta and we call on the Crown to concentrate its time and resources to act accordingly.

Yours sincerely

Crown Office: email PS/ COPFS@scotland.gsi.gov.ukThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Post : 25 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LA

Telephone: 0131 226 2626 Fax: 0131 225 7473


Solidarity backs Sheridan


Please add your name to the List of supporters...

http://tinyurl.com/2xfcly

Main site here...

http://tinyurl.com/2avsrh


What makes this even more SCARY (if that were possible) is that Aamer Anwar is Tommy Sheridan`s Lawyer. Read what they are doing to him as well...

http://tinyurl.com/2efeoe

A police state is at hand Brothers and Sisters or should that be A Fascist State with Murdoch in charge



"Defend Tommy Sheridan"

"Tommy Sheridan speaking at a Campiagn for a New Workers Party meeting in Liverpool, photo Harry Smith"...

http://tinyurl.com/28lvrq

[Red Dawn]

Brown's Free Market Disaster
Why Should We Pay For the Crisis?

2008 began with a declaration of war by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on millions of workers. With inflation running at over 4%, fuel bills skyrocketing, and a deluge of petrol and food price rises Brown is now demanding pay cuts across the public sector.

According to New Labour a 2% wage rise is all workers deserve or the government can afford. Under the guise of “fighting inflation” workers are to take pay cuts. But it won’t wash. We all know that it’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us. There is plenty of money for:

• £60 billion in end of year bonuses for company bosses and City of London fat cats before Christmas

• £26 billion and rising of our money spent on the bail-out of the Northern Rock bank

• £4 billion in profits from our fuel misery expected to be made this year by the big energy companies

Billions more are being squandered on the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brown’s government has stumbled from one crisis to another and is now so unpopular that even the discredited and hated Tories have moved ahead in the polls. And now, to make matters even worse, the economy looks likely to hit the rocks.

The fall-out from the so-called sub prime housing crash is not confined to the United States and will lead to an economic slowdown here as well. Inevitably, the bursting of the housing and credit bubbles that Gordon Brown encouraged to keep the British economy afloat will have a devastating impact on ordinary working people and their families.

New Labour and the rest of the establishment political parties and their big
business paymasters will expect us to pay for this crisis. In home repossessions,
rising unemployment, lower wages and cuts in public spending. But we will not take this lying down.

Working people, trade unionists and all those affected by New Labour's craven worship of private profit will have no choice but to defend ourselves and our families against these attacks.

Why should we pay for a crisis not of our making? The rigged “free market” of
Capitalism is failing us and billions more internationally. Solidarity is working to
build a movement in the here and now to end these attacks for good. We are also fighting to build a democratic socialist future free from poverty, environmental destruction, inequality and war. Join us today...

http://www.solidarityscotland.org/content/view/397/2/

[Editor]

Brown's Free Market Disaster

Thanks Red Dawn. One for Spiderednews ..

[Red Dawn]

"At our 2007 winter conference this commitment to internationalism was reaffirmed with an overwhelming vote to affiliate to various international solidarity campaigns. As such, we are proud to announce our affiliation to Stop the War, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), and the Cuba Solidarity Movement"

"We are Solidarity and we believe in taking sides"

http://tinyurl.com/29npoo



"Stop the War"

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/



"Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign"...

http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/



"Cuba Solidarity Movement"...

http://tinyurl.com/2dw6k2